Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [3]

☾ 5 ☽

Tsukiko had recently turned eighteen, and two years of the life post-war had seemingly flown by. It seemed most of it was to blame on the sheer workload that she had taken upon herself. There was a lot of work to do with Kakashi, and there so much stuff to do at the hospital, and she had to be on call whenever issues arose with orphans and widows of the war.

Yet even amidst all of this chaos, there were days that Tsukiko could relax herself, and most of them happened to be when she found herself in the arms of her most favourite person on earth – Gaara. The two of them were going steady yet were in a serious relationship.

In one such night, Tsukiko found herself sharing a bed with Gaara, his arms locked around her figure and her head set against his chest, listening to him breathe softly.

The two of them had had a private observation of the Otsukimi festival, which was much-loved in Sungakure due to how big and prominent the moon appeared over the desert.

It helped that after facing Kaguya, the curse had diminished greatly. Tsukiko only felt a fraction of the pain, and only when under the direct light of the full moon.

"What are you thinking?" Gaara asked in a whisper as he looked down at the white-haired girl laid along with the length of his body. "Is there something you wish to have?"

"No, it's alright," Tsukiko replied before smiling at him. "I think I had too many Tsukimi Dango earlier in the evening... maybe I should listen to you sometimes,"

"I couldn't have stopped you even if I wanted to," Gaara told her, his fingers brushing through her hair, amused at her antics. "You looked so happy with them,"

"What's on your mind?" Tsukiko inquired, looking up at him as she traced her finger over the shirt he had for bed. "You look to be deep in your thoughts as well, Gaara,"

Even after such a long time, Tsukiko remembered how much flustered Gaara was when she first suggested that they could sleep in the same bed when she visited him. They hadn't quite dared to share a room whenever Gaara visited Konoha as the visiting Kages were always stationed to stay at the Senju compound for overnight visitations.

Gaara had told Tsukiko that he didn't want to earn Tsunade's ire over attempting something like that even when she teased him that she'll sneak him in and out. The thought of it always sent Gaara blushing in a way that Tsukiko absolutely adored. He was far too pure.

In the early days of their relationship, Gaara had told Tsukiko that he was very serious about this but he wished that they could enjoy each other's presence as much as possible.

Tsukiko didn't mind it very much since she enjoyed teaching everything to Gaara gradually. He was always very courteous to her and was just as eager to learn.

"You're going home tomorrow morning," Gaara said, keeping his eyes on hers. "I'm going to miss you... I wonder when you will be returning again,"

"I will be missing you a lot as well," Tsukiko replied, lowering her eyes away in disappointment as well. "But there's a Kage meeting coming up in Konoha... and there's also one month later in Kumogakure. I'd love to meet you there,"

"Tsukiko," Gaara spoke and Tsukiko stared back at him curiously. "Have you... ever thought about the idea of the two of us living together?"

"What are you talking about, Gaara...?" Tsukiko asked, starting to feel her cheeks turn pink.

"Would you like to marry me?" Gaara spoke clearly, and he watched as her face blushed deeply and she averted her eyes away from him in embarrassment yet again.

"Marry... you?" Tsukiko repeated, shifting to sit back, her legs folded beneath her and Gaara pushed himself to follow her as well, staring at her face to see if her expression would give it away.